Fast X Review

Fast X sees the Fast & Furious crew return for a tenth film (eleventh if you include Hobbs & Shaw). This time they must overcome a sociopathic villain and a troubled production.

10 years ago Dom Torero (Vin Diesel) and his crew robbed a notorious crime lord in Rio de Janeiro. This crime lord had a son, Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) and he wants revenge. When the crew goes to Rome for the Agency, Dante sets them up by framing them for a terrorist attack. They are forced to go on the run and Dom sets out to confront this madman.

The Fast & Furious franchise has come a long way since its humble origins. The first film was a Point Break knock-off which was about street racers who stole DVD players. It is now a multi-national spy epic with a huge cast. Justin Lin was an instrumental figure because he was able to turn the franchise’s fortunes around. He brought back the original cast for Fast & Furious, made an entertainment crime caper with Fast Five, and turned the franchise into a globe-trotting spy thriller with the sixth film. Two of the films have crossed the billion-dollar barrier because of this change of direction.

However, Fast X’s production was rocked when Lin quit directing within a week and Louis Leterrier was parachuted in to fill the role. It was a film that had a colossal budget of $340 million with a ballooning cast. It was a film that brought back many characters from previous films and brought in new actors like Momoa, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Daniela Melchior, and Alan Ritchson. This troubled production and bloated cast made Fast X into a messy film.

The Fast & Furious franchise has tried to reference all its previous films, yet also retcon details like it’s a soap opera. Fast & Furious 6 brought Letty back from the dead and revealed Han was killed by Deckard Shaw, whilst F9 gave Dom a never before mentioned brother, and showing Han had survived the assassination attempt. Fast & Furious 6 was the most comparable film to Fast X. Both films had big stories with big casts, split the cast up, made references to previous films, and retcon a major event from a previous film.

The events of Fast Five were the catalyst for Fast X. The film opened with flashbacks to Fast Five showing Dante was a part of the action. There were plenty of references to the previous films throughout. There was even a scene when Brie Larson and Alan Ritchson described all the things Dom’s crew had done as scenes from the previous films played in the background. Dante acted like Blofeld in Spectre where he placed in an abandoned building photos of Dom as a way to taunt the hero.

Fast X’s story became convoluted as it progressed. After the mission in Rome the group had to split up and go to locations all over the globe. Dom went to Brazil to find out more about Dante and why he was targeting them, four characters were forced to flee to London, another gets arrested and sent to a black site prison, and finally Jakob (John Cena) and “Little B” (Leo Abelo Perry) travel together as they seek safety. This split made the story feel bitty and it was easy to forget what the characters beyond Dom and Dante were doing.

Fast X was meant to be an ensemble film, but it was centred around Dom. Dom was separated from the rest of the group as he did his own investigating, and the villain was tied to him. The cast in London didn’t have much to do and the editing for the film was weird at times. Jakob and Little B felt like they were having a long road trip across America and the two characters felt like they were conducting the longest prison break in history. The trailers highlighted a fight between two characters, yet when it happened in the film it felt like the filmmakers thought there hasn’t been an action sequence for a while, so let’s have a fight scene. Fast X had four credited editors which is never a good sign.

From an action standpoint, Fast X gives fans more of what they want. The Rome sequence was the highlight of the film since it started off as a heist and evolved into a chase when a flaming ball of death rolls down the city streets. It gave us a variety as the crew raced to stop the bomb, and Dante acted as a chaotic force as he disrupted their actions. The rest of the action was satisfying. There were ridiculous moments like a car pulling down two helicopters and everything involving John Cena.

The most surprising aspect of the film was Jason Momoa’s performance. Momoa is best known for playing big strong characters like Khal Drogo and Aquaman and it seemed like he was going to play a similar character in Fast X. It ended up being really surprising that he was playing an effeminate, camp man who liked to wear silk shirts, jewellery and painted his nails. He made the film memorable since his character was so different and he had some of the funniest lines in the film.

Most of the cast were lumbered with some terrible dialogue and Fast X was even cheesier than its franchise compatriots. Even Brie Larson and Charlize Theron struggled with the material. The best cast member was Daniela Melchior who played a Brazilian street racer. Melchior is a rising star thanks to her role in The Suicide Squad and she gave her character some emotional depth due to her character’s backstory.

Fast X was an overly bloated film with too many storylines and characters. There were some decent action sequences and Momoa was notable, but Fast X was one of the lower-tier Fast & Furious films.